SHERMAN - After a patient shot at her and then killed himself after a standoff with police, East Texas chaplain has filed a lawsuit against her employer claiming they failed to provide a safe workplace.
Dorothy Gale Wilson filed suit against Odyssey healthcare GP, Gentiva Health Services (USA), Gentiva Health Services Inc. and Odyssey Healthcare Inc. on April 8 in the Eastern District of Texas, Sherman Division.
Wilson was employed at defendant’s Denton branch as a Spiritual Care Coordinator (Chaplain) and Volunteer Coordinator. Wilson regularly visited patients in their respective homes including a male patient named Omer Brown, who was terminally ill.
According to the lawsuit, on April 18, 2012, Wilson arrived at Brown’s home to find him extremely angry and volatile. Brown complained that the defendants had not supplied him with necessary medical supplies and that the failure to do so had been ongoing despite several complaints and notifications.
After a brief confrontation, Brown fired a handgun at Wilson and missed. A police standoff occurred and Brown took his own life.
Wilson accuses the defendants of negligence for failing to provide a safe workplace.
The plaintiff is asking for an award of actual damages, compensatory damages, exemplary damages, interest and court costs.
Wilson is represented by Michael E. Coles, Dustin A. Paschal and Paul W. Simon of The Coles Firm P.C. in Dallas. A jury trial is requested.
U.S. District Judge Richard A. Schell is assigned to the case.
Case No. 4:13-cv-00207
Chaplain sues employer after patient shoots at her, then kills himself
